A 14-year-old boy with special needs is safe after a school bus driver found him wandering the streets during cold temperatures, reported ABC 7.
The incident reportedly took place on Feb. 18, when Trey Briggs woke up and found all the doors of her family’s apartment open and her son, Urijah Heard, missing.
According to the news report, Heard is non-verbal. Temperatures that day were below zero and he was only wearing a t-shirt and underwear.
Briggs reportedly contacted the Wheeling Police Department and was told that officers had already been contacted by a passing school bus driver who saw Heard wandering and returned to pick him up.
“The fact that he [the school bus driver] stopped and put him on the bus is amazing to me. A miracle to me,” Briggs told local news reporters.
Police were able to identify Heard almost immediately because the teen had just been registered in a program started in 2022 by Wheeling Police Sgt. Richard Giltner called “Return Home Safe.” The database includes children with special needs, identified with photos and information submitted by their parents, for situations similar to this one.
According to local news reporters, the bus driver, Freddy Leon, did not want to comment on the matter. However, Heard’s mother is grateful for his act of kindness. The police department is planning to honor Leon for his actions later this month.
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